This week’s biggest stories
Sad news to begin with, as a survey has shown that millennials are less likely to be having sex than young adults were 30 years ago. Some might suggest that this might be to do with use of the Tinder dating app, which researchers have linked to low self-esteem and body consciousness. Still, in a rather more pleasing vein, the mystery of the female orgasm may be solved, so don’t give up on the whole thing just yet. In less saucy news, a team of researchers have used x-ray fluorescence to reveal a face hidden beneath Degas’ Portrait of a Woman, and brain scans have shown that overweight and obese people have brains that look ten years older than those of their leaner contemporaries.
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Straight from the lab - top picks from our experts on the blog network
Don’t ‘diagnose’ Donald Trump, it’s not helpful | Brain flapping
A US Democrat has started a petition to evaluate Trump’s mental health. The Democrat Representative Karen Bass, who is, in fairness, medically qualified, argues that Trump displays all the classic signs of narcissistic personality disorder. Given his general behaviour and apparent thinking, it’s a pretty compelling argument.
Did T. rex make your dog colour blind? | Lost Worlds Revisited
Recent discoveries reveal that your dog’s colour-blind world has its origins in the time of the dinosaurs, proving that for mammals, eyes are the windows to the evolutionary past.
Get ready for the coming wave of technologically enhanced athletes | Political science
Humans are improved by technology. For instance, I’ll venture that you were vaccinated at an early age against multiple diseases, a technology that has altered the biological fabric of your body in such a way as to enhance your performance against various debilitating, even fatal, diseases.
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Alex Bellos’s Monday puzzle
Fresh from winning the Association of British Science Writers’ blog award, Alex had another of his brainteasers for you, this week involving a dastardly desert island despot. So, did you solve it?
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Science Weekly podcast
What does it mean to be you? And how can science unpick the age-old debates around conscious experience? Join us for a journey into the unknown in the second of our Big Unknowns series.
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Eye on science - this week’s top pictures
Animals were up to all sorts this month, as evidenced by this collection of zoological wonders from July 2016, featuring snow leopards, lubricated swordfish, drunk lorises, faithful falcons and more.
